Black Country lessons for nurses

The classes will help communication on the ward

Foreign nurses, who are about to start work at a Midlands hospital, are attending lessons to understand the broad Black Country accent and dialect.

Nurses from the Philippines and countries around Europe are receiving tuition about the unusual grammar and words used by people from the area.

Tutors will help the nurses translate such phrases as "yo'am", which means "you are".

Among the celebrities from the area who speak with broad Black Country accents are comedian Lenny Henry and ex-Slade frontman Noddy Holder.

Anne Walters, a lecturer who is running the courses at Walsall College, said: "The nurses speak perfect, perfect English with a slight American accent and sometimes are just bemused by what people say."

Ward confusion

Managers from Walsall's Manor hospital have recently employed 40 qualified nurses from the Philippines.

Over the last two years they have taken on another 40 from India, Portugal, Italy and Spain.

It's a brilliant idea, I wish I could've had this when I moved here from Yorkshire

Kathryn Sallah, Walsall NHS Hospital Trust

Ms Walters said: "It can be the dialect, the accent or people just talking quickly.

"People say 'I ai' meaning 'I am not doing that' or say 'cor' meaning 'can't'.

"It's not an insurmountable problem or else they wouldn't be able to do their work.

"During the class the nurses say 'so that's what they were trying to say', so hopefully they are finding it useful," she added.

'Very frustrated'

In a seminar run by dialect expert Philip Solomon staff will try to get to grips with troublesome Black Country words like wazzin (throat), fittle (food) and kid (relative).

Lenny Henry is famous for his Black Country accent

Kathryn Sallah, director of nursing for Walsall NHS Hospital Trust, said the classes would help nurses and patients.

"It's not a question of trying to teach nurses how to speak Black Country but this is part of their orientation process to work here," she said.

"Without this training nurses would be become very frustrated as colleagues may have difficulty in explaining what needs to be done.

"Patients wouldn't feel comfortable with a nurse who hasn't got a firm grasp of what's been said.

"It's a brilliant idea, I wish I could've had this when I moved here from Yorkshire."